Miriam

Miriam, 44, is married to José. She has five children with him who are 22, 17, 13, 10 and 2 years old but she only lives with the four youngest ones in her own house in the indigenous community of Villa María Alto Yurinaki, Chanchamayo Province. Miriam is an exemplary mother and wife. For a long time she’s been farming, an activity she learned from her family and from local communal land owners.

She has seven parcels of land, then, where she grows coffee, bananas and cassava in equal amounts thus insuring income from each part. “Planting coffee and bananas is more profitable in this zone because of demand so that’s always a sure thing,“ she comments.

Miriam is happy with the assortment of bananas she produces: Canelita, Bizcochito and Seda. This too leads to quick sales. Her children are the motivators of her efforts. For them, she does not hesitate to pick up a machete and head into the hills where her parcels are located to clear them.

Later on she’d like to increase production by acquiring more land. This would be Miriam’s first MFP loan and she’s very excited about it. She is now part of the “Los Productores Yaneshas” (Yanesha Producers) communal bank and she’s very hopeful about it.

Without a doubt, she will use the money from the loan to buy ten sacks of organic manure for her coffee crops because they have to be ready for the months of May and June.